Damian wasn’t sure why he drove out to the museum.
In a sense, he sort of knew why, but for a “jock” like him to drive half an hour to a small museum out in the middle of nowhere seemed kind of unnatural. Maybe he did it to clear his mind. Things hadn’t really gone his way in the past few days. He botched a football game on Wednesday, forgot to do his homework for Algebra on Thursday, and worst of all, broke someone’s window on Friday while practicing his throw and had to spend half his allowance for it.
And yet for some reason, instead of just playing a video game, he decided to spend Saturday just trying to forget about his troubles on a road trip. The reason probably had to do with his second hobby, digging up information on something.
Or rather, someone.
And so here he was, perusing all the exhibit items. He knew that there wouldn’t be a good chance he’d find what he was looking for, but he really needed to get his mind off things and he figured he might as well spend the time doing something “productive” instead of stewing on a couch. The old wood and carpet smell of the museum took up real estate in his nostrils as he absentmindedly looked. There were numerous relics from the Fae’s world in glass boxes, which numbered just as many as the human world’s. All the Fae relics were of various shapes an sizes, from ones that looked like crooked stones to small statues depicting what fae’s considered deities.
Before he realized it, he’d wandered into the art section. Numerous paintings were hung across the walls with yard-spacing between each one. Some had descriptions in a small white card below the paintings. Despite his general lack of interest in fine arts, he found it easy to pick out the Fae ones, as they had a different “feel” to it. Mainly because something able them felt silly in a way. He figured it might be a perception thing, since the fae unironically praised each other’s works like the second coming of Van Gogh. However, one painting caught his interest.
It was a silhouette piece of of a man chasing a little boy. The boy was running away holding his arm up with something in hand while the man was chasing with his arm out. Upon closer inspection, he noticed the object the boy held in his hand was an arm. Damian reeled back slightly but noticed some squiggly lines coming out of the man’s and arm’s stumps. He checked the piece name, and saw that the translated name of this fae painting was called “Andriod chases Boy”. Below it said that this painting was actually a painted replica by the artist for donation purposes, since the actually piece was worth a fortune in the fae world. The description said that it won many merits in the fae community. Damian stifled an amused snort.
“Pff. Of effing course.”
He looked back up to the painting for a second, but before he realized it, he mentally froze. He didn’t know why, but the painting was giving him strange feelings. Out of them though, two of them felt dominant.
Irony, and agitation.
He’d spaced out so hard that he stopped paying attention to the small amount of people dotted around the floor. He didn’t know why he was so focused on such a thing.
“Hello. Are you alright young mister?”
Damian jumped and nearly got a heart attack. A small burst of wind came from his feet and rattled the surrounding paintings a little while the patrons got a bit startled. Thankfully it wasn’t too strong and nothing got damaged. He looked behind him and saw a woman behind him.
“Oh, I’m so sorry!” Damian felt like he’d been caught with his pants down for some reason.
“It’s quite alright.” The woman responded. “You don’t have any pointy ears yet you it feels like you have a not-so-small amount of magic in you. Are you a Half by chance”.
Damian scratched his head. “Yeah, kinda.”
The woman looked over him before saying something. “You don’t look like the sort to come here. What brings you?”
Damian figured he should give a quick response. “Just looking to get my mind off things”
The woman paused a bit, and said something he really didn’t expect.
“You look like you need something more than this. How about we both take a trip to the lake?”
It took all of Damian’s self control to not screech inside a small public museum. “Wh-!?”
“It’s fine. I’m a therapist by trade and I figure you need something else to calm you. I know it’d be awkward to ride in my car, so how about you drive me?”
“Uuuuhhhhh.... Okay?” Damiam felt so taken aback, but figured the the museum wasn’t doing it for him anyways.
And so both of them got into the car, and Damian suddenly found himself driving 30 minutes farther away from home.
As the AC blew with rock music playing, the woman spoke up again. “The name’s Michelle by the way. Nice to meet you.”
“Damian. Nice to meet you too. I’d shake hands with you but I don’t want to crash with you sitting next to me.” They both shared a small laugh at the amusing small talk.
Soon-ish, they were at the lake. Michelle said that they should sit down at the shoals.
“Alright, now tell me the truth, what’s actually bothering you?”
Damian gave a sigh. It felt weird to be giving his life tale to a stranger, but if she said she was a therapist, and no one else was around, he figured he might as well take this time to vent.
“Well, I don’t really know my Dad, to be straight with you.”
Michelle nodded. “Go on as long as you’d like, I won’t interrupt”
“Alright. I’ll try to make it tight.” Damian took a small breath, knowing he was about to spit out some exposition. “My fae dad left out of nowhere one day and left me and my mom to fend for ourselves. I’m not really a fan of his for doing that, but I really want to get to know him as well” Damian took another breath. “Even though I’m mad at him, I still want to find him. I never really knew what it was like to even have a dad really. I have these powers I should be proud of, but I can’t because I know it came from the man who left us.” Damian paused for a bit.
“That’s why I was at the museum. I guess I was just hoping I could find something related to him.”
Michelle also took some time to paused and think about what she’d just heard. “Well, I can’t help you with your search, as much as I’d like to. But you really shouldn’t hold your grudge over small things. It’s true that what your father did was… incorrect. But I think you might get somewhere by looking into maybe why he left?”
Damian felt like facepalming.
“And about your little power dilemma.” Michelle pointed at Damian. “You shouldn’t avoid using what you have simply because you dislike your father for it. I can tell you value your pride, but you’re just going to feel worse if you associate what’s yours with what your father was. It’s your power. No one else’s. So think of it as your own and you’ll feel better.” Damian nodded, and smiled. “Thanks...Michelle.”
Michelle then spoke up. “Now then, I know what I smelt. Go ahead and take a smoke break. Although I know smoke isn’t exactly what I’m smelling”
Jumped and his heart nearly skipped a beat. “Wh-”
“We’re alone here, no one’s here to bust you. Just take some time to relax and start fresh.”
Damian sighed, yet smiled again. He headed off to his car to get his stash as Michelle watch.
Damian turned around to face her though. “Hey Michelle. Thanks, I really needed that.”
In a sense, he sort of knew why, but for a “jock” like him to drive half an hour to a small museum out in the middle of nowhere seemed kind of unnatural. Maybe he did it to clear his mind. Things hadn’t really gone his way in the past few days. He botched a football game on Wednesday, forgot to do his homework for Algebra on Thursday, and worst of all, broke someone’s window on Friday while practicing his throw and had to spend half his allowance for it.
And yet for some reason, instead of just playing a video game, he decided to spend Saturday just trying to forget about his troubles on a road trip. The reason probably had to do with his second hobby, digging up information on something.
Or rather, someone.
And so here he was, perusing all the exhibit items. He knew that there wouldn’t be a good chance he’d find what he was looking for, but he really needed to get his mind off things and he figured he might as well spend the time doing something “productive” instead of stewing on a couch. The old wood and carpet smell of the museum took up real estate in his nostrils as he absentmindedly looked. There were numerous relics from the Fae’s world in glass boxes, which numbered just as many as the human world’s. All the Fae relics were of various shapes an sizes, from ones that looked like crooked stones to small statues depicting what fae’s considered deities.
Before he realized it, he’d wandered into the art section. Numerous paintings were hung across the walls with yard-spacing between each one. Some had descriptions in a small white card below the paintings. Despite his general lack of interest in fine arts, he found it easy to pick out the Fae ones, as they had a different “feel” to it. Mainly because something able them felt silly in a way. He figured it might be a perception thing, since the fae unironically praised each other’s works like the second coming of Van Gogh. However, one painting caught his interest.
It was a silhouette piece of of a man chasing a little boy. The boy was running away holding his arm up with something in hand while the man was chasing with his arm out. Upon closer inspection, he noticed the object the boy held in his hand was an arm. Damian reeled back slightly but noticed some squiggly lines coming out of the man’s and arm’s stumps. He checked the piece name, and saw that the translated name of this fae painting was called “Andriod chases Boy”. Below it said that this painting was actually a painted replica by the artist for donation purposes, since the actually piece was worth a fortune in the fae world. The description said that it won many merits in the fae community. Damian stifled an amused snort.
“Pff. Of effing course.”
He looked back up to the painting for a second, but before he realized it, he mentally froze. He didn’t know why, but the painting was giving him strange feelings. Out of them though, two of them felt dominant.
Irony, and agitation.
He’d spaced out so hard that he stopped paying attention to the small amount of people dotted around the floor. He didn’t know why he was so focused on such a thing.
“Hello. Are you alright young mister?”
Damian jumped and nearly got a heart attack. A small burst of wind came from his feet and rattled the surrounding paintings a little while the patrons got a bit startled. Thankfully it wasn’t too strong and nothing got damaged. He looked behind him and saw a woman behind him.
“Oh, I’m so sorry!” Damian felt like he’d been caught with his pants down for some reason.
“It’s quite alright.” The woman responded. “You don’t have any pointy ears yet you it feels like you have a not-so-small amount of magic in you. Are you a Half by chance”.
Damian scratched his head. “Yeah, kinda.”
The woman looked over him before saying something. “You don’t look like the sort to come here. What brings you?”
Damian figured he should give a quick response. “Just looking to get my mind off things”
The woman paused a bit, and said something he really didn’t expect.
“You look like you need something more than this. How about we both take a trip to the lake?”
It took all of Damian’s self control to not screech inside a small public museum. “Wh-!?”
“It’s fine. I’m a therapist by trade and I figure you need something else to calm you. I know it’d be awkward to ride in my car, so how about you drive me?”
“Uuuuhhhhh.... Okay?” Damiam felt so taken aback, but figured the the museum wasn’t doing it for him anyways.
And so both of them got into the car, and Damian suddenly found himself driving 30 minutes farther away from home.
As the AC blew with rock music playing, the woman spoke up again. “The name’s Michelle by the way. Nice to meet you.”
“Damian. Nice to meet you too. I’d shake hands with you but I don’t want to crash with you sitting next to me.” They both shared a small laugh at the amusing small talk.
Soon-ish, they were at the lake. Michelle said that they should sit down at the shoals.
“Alright, now tell me the truth, what’s actually bothering you?”
Damian gave a sigh. It felt weird to be giving his life tale to a stranger, but if she said she was a therapist, and no one else was around, he figured he might as well take this time to vent.
“Well, I don’t really know my Dad, to be straight with you.”
Michelle nodded. “Go on as long as you’d like, I won’t interrupt”
“Alright. I’ll try to make it tight.” Damian took a small breath, knowing he was about to spit out some exposition. “My fae dad left out of nowhere one day and left me and my mom to fend for ourselves. I’m not really a fan of his for doing that, but I really want to get to know him as well” Damian took another breath. “Even though I’m mad at him, I still want to find him. I never really knew what it was like to even have a dad really. I have these powers I should be proud of, but I can’t because I know it came from the man who left us.” Damian paused for a bit.
“That’s why I was at the museum. I guess I was just hoping I could find something related to him.”
Michelle also took some time to paused and think about what she’d just heard. “Well, I can’t help you with your search, as much as I’d like to. But you really shouldn’t hold your grudge over small things. It’s true that what your father did was… incorrect. But I think you might get somewhere by looking into maybe why he left?”
Damian felt like facepalming.
“And about your little power dilemma.” Michelle pointed at Damian. “You shouldn’t avoid using what you have simply because you dislike your father for it. I can tell you value your pride, but you’re just going to feel worse if you associate what’s yours with what your father was. It’s your power. No one else’s. So think of it as your own and you’ll feel better.”
Damian nodded, and smiled. “Thanks...Michelle.”
Michelle then spoke up. “Now then, I know what I smelt. Go ahead and take a smoke break. Although I know smoke isn’t exactly what I’m smelling”
Jumped and his heart nearly skipped a beat. “Wh-”
“We’re alone here, no one’s here to bust you. Just take some time to relax and start fresh.”
Damian sighed, yet smiled again. He headed off to his car to get his stash as Michelle watch.
Damian turned around to face her though. “Hey Michelle. Thanks, I really needed that.”
“No problem Damian.”